Dive Brief:
- An external review raised continuing concerns over the protection of research subjects involved in University of Minnesota projects, especially in connection to the Department of Psychiatry, according to a TwinCities.com report.
- A research subject in a review of antipsychotic drugs committed suicide in 2004, prompting initial concern following a Pioneer Press newspaper series in 2008. The latest report, commissioned by the university's president, identifies lingering problems.
- The university’s Institutional Review Board has been accused of lacking expertise and failing its responsibilities for holding researchers accountable for research subject protections.
Dive Insight:
Institutional review boards are present at every research institution and tasked with ensuring research subjects are protected. The IRB comes from a history of exploitation of human subjects in the quest for scientific knowledge, including the infamous Tuskegee Experiment, which studied untreated syphilis in African-American research subjects while insisting to the patients they were receiving treatment for their diseases. Many subjects died.
Universities must be vigilant in protecting the people recruited for participation in research studies. Like the University of Minnesota, other research institutions might consider proactively undertaking an internal review and new policies to protect subjects and, ultimately, the research process.